Remaking A Classic: Amplitude

Way before the giant music game Rock Band ever existed, the developer Harmonix, had created a music game called Frequency in the year 2001. Two years later, they had released its phenomenal sequel Amplitude. It was a playstation exclusive and was released on the playstation 2. Fast forward to the present and the game is getting a new reboot and being remade in high definition for current generation consoles. Amplitude takes place in a fictional, futuristic galaxy where you take on the role of a DJ in a space ship. The concept of the game is for the player to guide the space ship and shoot lasers at capsules, which contain musical energy that explodes and releases the power of sound and play out a song, while simultaneously giving the space ship energy to keep progressing. The primary objective of the game is reach the end of the song before the ship runs out of energy. On top of this, the game also rewards players for completing chains of sounds and building combos by not missing any notes.

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The concept for Amplitude was a unique idea and it spawned a new generation of music games. At this point I am ecstatic that this game is getting a reboot and coming back to consoles. The original game hosted a bunch a songs from different genres such as pop, metal, techno, and hip hop. It was a fantastic combination that made for an addictive and challenging experience that had lots of variety, which I think is truly lacking in recent times. In my opinion, one of the best parts of the game was the control scheme. Since the game is a playstation exclusive, the developers have taken advantage of the fact that the controller has multiple shoulder buttons and assigned them in a way that you can fire out 3 lasers from three of the top shoulder buttons. I felt the control setup was fantastic for the game and suited its simple and vibrant arcade style.

The new Amplitude looks absolutely amazing and the new levels are really coming to life with graphical updates and insanely detailed background environments. Amplitude aims to be a fantastic remake and as a fan of the original I could not be more excited. The game will be available exclusively on the playstation 3 and 4, and is rumored to be released sometime in mid 2015.